Educational Enrichment
I have been nannying since high school and over the years, it became more than just a way to pay the bills. For the last six years, I have been with the same family that blended from just 2 kids to 6. How does this relate to UX/UI? Everyday I help shape the life experiences of 6 kids, who range in age, gender, interests, and most prominently, personality. It's not easy pleasing that many users at once.
Timeline
Jan 2010 - Present (2019)
Goals
- Find creative ways to introduce a variety of material and topics
- Encourage learning, play, and exploration of any kind
- And with 6 kids, act as a 24/7 mediator, negotiator, and problem-solver
See a hilarious list of quotes I have been taking from them here.
Custom Nutrition Plan
This family is among the many that has chosen to prioritize their diet, excluding gluten and dairy, and minimizing refined sugars. In addition to their dietary restrictions of course, is the challenge of their food preferences. Oh, and one of the kids is allergic to corn, which is in almost everything gluten free. Over the years I have done a lot of research and experimentation, coming up with some creative work arounds. From this, the kids and I decided to collaborate on our very own family cookbook. This was not only an excellent opportunity to teach the kids about measuring and documenting your work, but also a good excuse to teach myself InDesign.
Summer Curriculum
This was the hardest project on my portfolio to do. I have done so many projects and activities with the kids that I simply didn't know where to start. Summer is when we are especially busy, because I am with them all day, everyday; this is what makes summer great, exciting, and challenging. My goals for summer are to have a healthy balance of creativity, physical activity, learning (math, reading, science), and personal exploration. Every summer, I sit each kid down and ask them, "over the summer...":
- What is something you would like to learn about?
- What kind of books are you interested in getting from the library?
- What kind of projects would you like to do? Art, science, crafting?
- What do you feel is important for you to do over the summer?
This questionnaire inspired "themed learning weeks". Every 2 weeks we would pick a new theme and center our activities, learning, and even meals around the theme. During some of the weeks, like Lego Week, we wrote a book with all of us collaborating and contributing to fill out the pages. We looked at the history of lego, how they are made, designed our own minifigures and more!
In short, I will try just about anything to keep them busy over the summer. And I've found that the more random it is, the more they are entertained. Here's just a few examples...
DIY garage obstable course? Kept them busy for a whole week.
Mixing and matching dog heads with coloring page characters was a huge hit for all ages.
We held a floating house prototyping competition inspired by Up!
And we've done DIY t-shirts, aprons, watercolors, bookmarks, birdhouses, perler bead necklaces, and so much more!
Speaking of DIY, I help the kids make all of their DIY gifts for their parents' birthdays and holidays. After being with them for nearly 6 years, I somehow manage to not run out of new mediums to paint on or spots to place personalized planters.
